Battlebots Wiki:Style Guide
The Style Guide is a guideline for the style of articles on the wiki. The purpose of the guide is to ensure consistency across the wiki and to avoid disputes over preferred styles. These guidelines are not official policies of the wiki, so users do not risk punishment for not following them. Also, the content of an article will always take precedence over the style of it, so please do not remove content from a page just because it is not formatted properly. Please either format the article yourself or add the tag to the article. These guidelines are not set in stone and discussion of more effective ideas is welcomed on the talk page. However, please wait until the new guidelines have been discussed and approved before changing them on this page. Style Guidelines Robot Names For robot articles, the title should be the same as the title that was used on the program. In situations where more than one title is used for a robot, use the most commonly used title. For example, 'Frostbite' rather than 'Frost Bite'. In this situation, make a reference in the article to the fact that the robot used an alternate name in certain series. If you are not sure which name to use, please discuss the issue in the Forum or on the Community Portal. For teams that entered more than one robot, all robots should be given a separate article. For notable teams that entered more than one robot, and for which notable information other than the team members and robots entered can be given, an article should be created for that team, which includes links to all the team's entries. A link to this page should be provided in the infobox on the page of each of the team's robots. For teams without notable information to include on a team page, no such page should be created, and links to the team's other entries should be provided in the infobox on the page of each of the team's robots. If you are unsure which teams deserve their own article and which teams do not, please consult this page and feel to suggest any changes you feel should be made to the list. In the case of 'sequel' robots, they should usually be merged with the robot they are sequels of. For example, both versions of Vlad the Impaler should be merged together and Mouser Mecha Catbot should be merged with Mouser Classic Mecha Catbot. In some cases, the sequel robots are regarded as notable enough to be given their own articles, such as Gamma Raptor. Again, if you are not sure whether a team's robots should be merged or not, please discuss the issue in the Forum or on the Community Portal. Finally, for 'sequel' robots which include a number at the end of the name, please always use the actual digit rather than roman numerals in all situations. This way, we can avoid disputes over which format is correct for each individual robot and keep the names consistent across the wiki. The only exception to this rule is when the roman numeral is in the name shown on television. Language Please do not use colloquialisms or commentator speak. The purpose of this wiki is to function like an encyclopedia, articles should strive to be professional-sounding. American spellings are preferred over British ones, as BattleBots was an American program. For example, "honor" rather than "honour" and "armor" rather than "armour.". However, British spellings are acceptable on articles about the British robots. When writing about a robot, please use words like "it" and "was" rather than "they" and "were" as you are referring to something which is singular and not plural. Also, please refrain from referring to robots as "he" or "she." They are gender neutral. In most cases abbreviations are not accepted on the wiki and full names should be used at all times. For example, Subject to Change Without Reason should never be abbreviated to "StCW/OR" and Spin Orbiting Force should not be "SOF". Unless directed to act otherwise, please write all content in the past tense, since the events are not happening as you write them, or for a review. Also, please avoid using exclamation marks in articles except in quotes, as using them instead of periods makes the articles appear less professional. Content Articles should be created for subjects that are directly related to the BattleBots TV series. This includes robots, competitions, presenters and commentators, official merchandise and terms used on the program, among other things. Please only start an article if you have enough information to make a proper article. Please do not start a page with just one or two sentences, unless you intend to expand the article in the near future. Articles should include information which is accurate, well-written and informative to the reader. All information must be verifiable and completely relevant to the subject of the article. Articles should also include the relevant templates where necessary and the relevant categories at the bottom to make navigation around the wiki easier. When you start a page, start off with the robot's name (in bold text) and a small paragraph about its weightclass, who built it (if applicable), what seasons it competed in, and any other important information. The fight histories should go under a separate part of the page titled "Robot History". Then comes the "Merchandise" section, and finally the "Trivia" section of each article. Trivia Trivia are small facts about the subject of the page deemed not important enough for the main description. As a general rule, statistical facts, individualities (ie "the only robot to..."), and non-honour superlatives are trivia, whilst name origins and appearances outside BattleBots are not. Nothing from the main description of the article should be repeated in the trivia section, and vice-versa. Trivia should be as general as possible. (eg if a robot was the only robot to achieve a feat, it should be listed at "the only robot to..." rather than "the only robot in its weight class to...") General Grammar When inserting new information, please be wary of how the existent information is affected. It is very easy to turn a sentence into a run-on without immediately noticing. Consider starting a new sentence if the existing one has several clauses already. At the same time, please avoid sentence fragments - at minimum a sentence needs a subject and a non-progressive verb. The word for "belonging to it" is spelled "its" with no apostrophe. "It's," with the apostrophe, is used only as a contraction of "it is," and is virtually never used on this Wiki because the majority of articles are written in past tense. Please avoid contractions in articles; the words should be spelled out in encyclopedic writing. Contractions of "not" (didn't, couldn't, etc.) are acceptable but please use them sparingly. The past tense of "spin" is "spun," not "span". The word "however" is a synonym of "in spite of it." It should be used only as such, and not to connect unrelated or non-contradictory thoughts. *'Examples': **''The robot returned with thicker armor. However, it was easily destroyed by its opponent.'' **''The robot's main weapon was an axe. However, it failed to make a dent in its opponent's shell.'' *'Non-Examples': **''The robot's main weapon was an axe. However, it was easily destroyed by its opponent.'' **''The robot returned with thicker armor. However, it failed to make a dent in its opponent's shell.'' Consecutive sentences (or clauses) should not both contain the same adverb. Please be especially wary of the "non -ly" adverbs (eg, "however," "then," "before," "after," etc.) and all synonyms of those words, as they are particularly easy to overuse. "Ironic" describes an occurrence that contradicts the established principles, truths, and expectations in an amusing or comedic way. It does not describe every scenario that is unexpected or coincidental, or anything befitting of the robot's name. Please err on the side of caution; when in doubt, leave it out. Merchandise pages When creating a merchandise page for a competitor, please use the original robot's name, then a slash, then the name of the merchandise. For example, "Atomic Wedgie/Battle Basher" instead of "Battle Basher Atomic Wedgie"